Enjoying that Prime membership comes at a big cost to Amazon

Generally speaking, being the world’s largest online retailer is a good thing. Amazon’s ubiquity can tell you that.

Staying that big, though, can carry an equally massive cost. This chart from Statista shows it pretty well: Amazon’s net shipping costs have grown from $317 million a decade ago to more than $4.5 billion over the first three quarters of this year — before the holiday shopping season has even started.

Now, given how much Amazon’s profile has grown over that time, some rise is expected. A big chunk of that cost, though, is due to the service that’s made it so much money in the first place: Amazon Prime. Being a Prime member means getting your stuff faster, and at no extra cost. Naturally, fulfilling those promises costs Amazon a pretty penny. So as more and more people have become active Prime members, that cost has skyrocketed.